MAPUSA
Complaints of delay in starting the voting process came in from many polling stations in Bardez taluka on the polling day.
At many places, voters who queued up at polling stations at 7 am where in for a shock, as polling officials were either not present or the duty staff was not prepared.
In Mapusa and other places in Bardez, people preferred to exercise their franchise early, in cool climes of the morning.
Some polling booths in Mapusa witnessed long queues since 7 am in the morning.
“My son and I reached the polling booth at around 7.05 am. But to our utter shock, the staff was not ready to conduct the voting process. We had to sit out for good 30 minutes before we could cast our vote," said Ninette Pereira, a voter from Aldona constituency. Their voting was in Part 3 at Sports Complex New Building, Peddem.
Shriniwas Khalap, husband of the AAP candidate in Mapusa, who faced similar problem of delay in the voting process, expressed his disgust on his Facebook page.
“AAP volunteers were first to reach the polling stations only to find officers missing on duty,” Khalap wrote on his Facebook page.
Complaints of delay in voting process came from Tivim constituency too.
A supporter of Tivim Congress candidate complained that the voting process started well passed 7.30 am in the morning.
“Polling was delayed due to technical hitch in the EVM machines. In booths no. 27 and 24 in the government primary school in Tivim, polling started at 7.35 am and 7.20 am respectively," said Robert Colaco of Tivim.
He said the Returning Officer remained mum when questioned whether the voting time would be extended by half an hour due to the delay.
Election Returning Officer for Aldona Rohan Kaskar admitted there was a little delay in few polling stations, but also stated that the process generally started on time.
“At a couple of polling stations, there was a delay of around 15 to 20 minutes due to power and other technical flaws. But in most areas it started at 7.00 am,” Kaskar said.
